


Lovestruck

by SesuRescue (Kigachan)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Victorian, Crossdressing, Love at First Sight, M/M, Marriage arrangement, Mistaken Gender, Monsters and Humans on the surface, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-17 05:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13069890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kigachan/pseuds/SesuRescue
Summary: W.D. Gaster, faced with the threat of losing his project support, throws a ball in order to find a marriage arrangement. However, he never expected to actually fall in love...





	Lovestruck

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheManicMagician](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheManicMagician/gifts).



> Oneshot for the first place winner in my fic raffle who wanted some cliche Papster romance! <3

It had been a Thursday when it happened. Bad things seemed to occur often enough on Thursdays that, were it any other person, they might think that they were being cursed by God himself. But Doctor W.D. Gaster didn’t believe in the paranormal; it was merely a coincidence that unpleasant news just happened to come to him on those days. Damn often coincidence, Gaster thought to himself as his adviser came scurrying into his office in a huff.

Once he managed to calm down the human with a chair and a cup of tea, the other had delivered the dreadful news; his investors had been unhappy with Gaster lately, and started to pull their support from his projects.

Befuddled, Gaster had inquired as to what had happened to make his investors distrustful of him, and his adviser told him that they didn’t believe Gaster was looking to make a lasting project. Their perception was that he was just a mad scientist who only thought about his current projects as a game that he would abandon soon enough.

 _“What? Do they not see how hard I work to make this a reality? Do they not see how many lives this project can save? Are they daft??”_ He asked, slamming his hand against his desk as he stood.

The human squeaked, curling away from Gaster as he clutched his mug to his chest. _“Sir—Doctor,”_ He corrected quickly, “ _It is your image! You have no ties to the world, no family to care about. They cannot trust you if they think you have nothing to lose.”_

_“Well, that’s just ridiculous.”_

The human hummed (What was his name again?), nodding his head in agreement. _“I’m on your side here, but it’s what they want, and if you want to be successful, you must appease the investors somehow!”_

The two of them had sat around for some time, mulling over what options they had. Gaster didn’t have anyone he was particularly interested in currently (or ever really), so it wasn’t as easy as just skipping some steps in the courting process. They didn’t have the time to set up interviews for eligible suitors around either.

After a long while of thinking, the adviser let out a shout. _“I’ve got it, Doctor! Why don’t we throw a ball? We could invite the single eligible women from the investor’s families, you could meet and mingle with them, and then whoever you like the most you can choose to marry and announce your engagement at the party. How does that sound?”_ It had been agreeable enough to Gaster at the time, so he left the man to figure out all of the particulars to set up such an event.

A list had been drafted up, invites sent out, and after a fortnight of planning the ball was finally happening. It was a wonderful affair, just as spectacular as Gaster would’ve done himself, had he been in charge. The largest ballroom in the town had been rented out just for the occasion, and a few hundred of only the most elite of society and their daughters had come out for the festivities.

Gaster stood near the wall, straightening out his vest as he took a breather from dancing. In order to get close to a woman who could potentially become his wife, Gaster had to invite them to the floor to dance. After that, he only had a short amount of time to decide if his chosen person was compatible with him or not by engaging them in conversation while they danced.

Unfortunately, all of the humans and monsters he danced with so far were too much of a bore for him. All they wanted to do was gawk about how ‘handsome he was’ (not sure how they managed to get that, what with the huge gashes in his face and all) or how ‘nicely he was dressed’. None of them seemed to care about his research, his studies, his inventions…just that he was good-looking and successful. While he enjoyed having his ego stroked every now and again, he couldn’t marry someone who was only interested in fleeting physical attributes. He needed someone who used their brain, someone interesting to talk to, and furthermore, someone who understood and appreciated his work.

He took a few more minutes to gather himself before stepping away from the wall, tailcoat whipping behind him as he strolled back onto the floor, searching for a new dance partner. Gaster knew that he was being picky and that anyone would do to secure his future, but there was a small part of him who at least wanted to like his future betrothed.

Locking eyes with a young lizard woman across the way, Gaster turned in her direction, when suddenly someone new stole his attention. Sitting at one of the tables near him was a young monster, a skeleton based on the bare ulnas peeking out from her sleeves. Her dress was a lovely shade of pink, adorned with white embroidered lace edges and a tiered skirt that billowed underneath her as she sat. Resting atop of her head was a wreath of flowers, framing the delicate bones of her skull like a halo. Gaster found he couldn’t stop looking at her; she was marvelous, she was stunning...he had to talk to her.

Gaster mouthed an apology to the lizard monster, receiving a glare in return as the other discreetly flipped him off. Unperturbed, he focused his attentions on the skeleton, catching her eye lights as he wandered over to her table. The confused look she gave him quickly flitted to one of realization as Gaster went through the steps of asking her to dance, a process that he practiced for hours in order to execute it flawlessly. He bent low at his waist (but not too low, he still wanted to keep eye contact), stretching his arm out towards the monster with his gloved palm turned upright in invitation. He looked deep into her vast orbs as he smiled gently. “Will you do me the honor of dancing with me?”

The monster in front of him let out an odd sort of surprised sound, gazing up at Gaster with her large eye lights. Her face blushed bright orange as she turned her head, searching for her chaperone to confirm. Gaster followed her gaze, spotting a short skeleton standing a small distance away. The skeleton had a completely different facial structure compared to the perfect woman in front of him, rounder with a large grin on his face, and dressed in the proper male attire of a dress coat and fitting pants, albeit a bit too sloppy for Gaster’s tastes. In one hand he held a large turkey leg, which made Gaster wonder where on earth he managed to find it: certainly not from the dining room. He didn’t dare make a scene though, not until after he learned more about this beautiful skeleton in front of him.

The short skeleton’s eyelights darted between the two of them, seemingly considering the request for a moment, before giving them a thumbs up.  

Dark eyelights locked onto his as the gorgeous monster placed her hand into his. “With pleasure, Doctor.”

Gaster kept his face neutral as he straightened up and they headed to the dance floor, but on the inside he was slowly losing his composure. Her hand was warm within his, even through both of their gloves, and the way she lightly squeezed his hand to make sure they didn’t get seperated was just so...so...perfect.

By the time they found an adequate space to dance, Gaster was sweating, metaphorically of course. He wasn’t expecting to find someone he genuinely felt attracted to, but now that he did he wasn’t sure how to proceed. He had a specific set of questions that he asked every woman he danced with to figure out what their personality was like, but when faced with her in front of him his questions seemed hollow and impersonal. He wanted to know everything about this woman: her likes, her dislikes, whether she preferred to knit or write, if she liked sunsets or sunrises more. Gaster never cared about that stuff before; what was happening to him?

Pushing his feelings to the back of mind to examine later, Gaster held one hand out for his partner, who curtsied slightly before stepping closer into him and linking their hands. He put his other hand around her waist, guiding her as he began their dance.

“May I have the pleasure of knowing the name of the most beautiful creature I’ve met tonight?” Gaster said, putting on his best business smile.

She giggled, ducking slightly to cover her face as she recovered. “It’s Papyrus, sir.”

 _Papyrus._ Gaster committed the name to his memory, squashing down the intruding images of how her name would look with his surname. “It’s a privilege to meet you, Ms. Papyrus.”

“Likewise.”

The two of them fell into their steps easily enough, Gaster leading the way as he tried to think of a good conversation topic. Usually these came easily enough in normal company; he would start with the economy, or their musings on whatever book he was reading lately, but his thoughts were whisked away with the arrival of Papyrus. He was ensnared by the shrill lilts of her voice, trapped in the faint aroma of bone and perfume that only made him want to push in closer to breathe it in. He imagined the two of them on a bench somewhere, his head in her lap as he recounted tales from the week as their children ran around them, which was a miracle in and of itself since he never saw himself having children before he met her.

“Doctor?”

Gaster quickly snapped back to reality, cheeks flushing purple as he realized he zoned out thinking. He focused his gaze on Papyrus, offering a small smile to appease the confusion on her face. “Terribly sorry, my dear, I was lost in my own thoughts.”

“About your work?”

“You could say that.” Gaster replied. “Do you know of it?”

“Know of it? I'm captivated by it!” Papyrus exclaimed, causing a few people to look in their direction. “The scientific concepts behind your early work was amazing, and the current mechanical theories that you're applying to your latest projects are truly on another level of genius!”

As Papyrus gushed on and on, Gaster noticed the shine in her eyelights from the subject manner, along with a sudden energy permeating their movements and influencing their feet until they were quite possibly the liveliest couple on the floor. Nearby groups turned to watch, and soon they had the attention of everyone around them. Usually Gaster preferred attention only when he was showing off his work, but for some reason he was enjoying it now, possibly even more. He wanted to show off even more, honestly. Before he could stop himself he was tapping the back Papyrus’ hand with his finger to get her attention.

“It seems we have an audience, perhaps we should show them a good time?”

Papyrus looked up at Gaster before whipping her head around to look, her flower wreath fluttering along with her movements as she took in the crowd. Turning back to Gaster with a wicked grin on her face, Papyrus nodded.

The rest of their dance was a flurry of activity as Gaster and Papyrus focused on each other, anticipating the other’s movements as they danced in circles on the floor. At one point Gaster had twirled Papyrus around as she spun to the very edge of his reach and back into his chest, giggling the entire time. By the time they had finished both of them were in a similar state of giggles as they left the floor, a chorus of applause following them.

The two of them wandered towards the open terrace, leaning against the handrails as they each tried to catch their breath after the festivities. There were a few other partygoers meandering about outside, but they quietly made themselves sparse when they took notice of Gaster. He turned to enjoy the view of Papyrus beside him, surprised to see that Papyrus was already looking at him, head resting on her hand.

“That was really fun,” She remarked. “Thank you for such a lovely dance.”

Gaster managed to pull himself together enough to take Papyrus’ spare hand, placing a kiss on her metacarpals through her glove before letting go. “Thank you, Papyrus. I can’t say I’ve ever had so much fun myself. There’s something about you that I think brings out the best in me.”

Papyrus tilted her head curiously. “What do you mean?”

“I must confess that I find you perfect. Ever since I first laid eyes on you, I was smitten. The more I talked with you, the more I realized that I might be in love with you,” Gaster confessed. He knew his cheeks must’ve been bright purple at this point, but he couldn’t stop. “If you would accept it, I would love to have your hand in marriage.”

Papyrus flushed orange after Gaster finished talking, looking up at him with wide eyes. “You want...to marry me?”

“If you’ll have me,” Gaster replied.

Papyrus stammered a bit, seemingly trying to formulate an answer, until she decided to stare at her hands on the railing. “I would love to marry you Doctor, but I don’t think it would be wise.”

Gaster thought his SOUL might break from her words, but he steeled his resolve; perhaps she was confused. Better to try and help her understand before he let himself go to his emotions. He grasped both of her hands in his, looking down into her eye lights.  “My SOUL knows what I want Papyrus, and it’s you. I’ve never felt so alive as I did with you here tonight.”

“Doctor,” Papyrus started. She sighed before continuing. “I feel the same way. I had so much fun, and I wish I could spend the rest of my life with you but—well, I’m a male.”

Gaster’s thought process ground to a halt from the revelation. He stared at Papyrus in shock, mouth gaped open. Papyrus gave an embarrassed smile.

“When my family received the invitation for the ball and saw that it was only open for eligible women, my brother and I hatched a plan to attend. I always enjoyed wearing dresses more than suits anyway, so it was easy for me. It’s not like most people can tell the differences from male and female skeletons anyway.” Papyrus said.

Gaster nodded along to her—his, his, his. Papyrus is a man, not a lady!—explanation. He didn’t even notice himself as he was too busy getting lost in Papyrus’ eyes.

“I was just going to come and enjoy the party,” Papyrus continued. “I knew that I’d at least get one dance from the master of the ball so I was holding out for that. But then you came, with your handsome face and perfect smile, and then my idiot self fell in love, too.”

Papyrus turned to look the other way, but Gaster caught sight of a tear falling down her—his, he reminded himself again—cheek, spurring him to action. He moved forward, cupping Papyrus’ cheeks in his hands. Papyrus wrapped his arms around Gaster as more tears fell from his sockets.

They stood together for awhile, Papyrus sniffling as Gaster used his thumb to wipe away the tears as he thought about his next step. Papyrus was probably the most compatible monster for him that he had ever met. He had the mental capacity to keep up with him, as well as having the trait of being so beautiful that Gaster couldn’t help but want to dress him up and fawn over him. But, Papyrus was a man. Did that bother Gaster?

 _No_ , he decided.

Gaster never really cared about anyone before now, so if the only problem was that Papyrus was the same gender as he was, then he would take it. He loved Papyrus, no matter who or what he was.

“Papyrus, regardless of this information, I still love you,” Gaster moved in close, pressing a chaste kiss to Papyrus’ nasal bone. Papyrus gasped lightly from the contact, squeezing Gaster’s sides tighter. “I’m slightly shocked, but it will pass. I want to cherish you forever, to dress you up as much as your SOUL desires. I want to share all of my successes and failures with you, and most importantly, I want to spend everyday of the rest of my life with you. Papyrus, would you consider my proposal seriously?”

Papyrus sniffed once more, taking a hand away from Gaster to wipe at his sockets. “I’d have to tell my brother, and then we’ll have to bring it up with our parents but—” Papyrus grinned at Gaster, eye lights shining brightly—“I personally accept your proposal, W.D. Gaster.”

Relief flooded Gaster’s soul as he barked out a laugh, picking up Papyrus in euphoria and twirling him around happily. Papyrus squawked in surprised, wrapping his arms around Gaster’s neck to stabilize himself. Soon he was laughing along with Gaster, looking at him with love in his eye lights as they had their moment together.

Eventually Gaster placed Papyrus back on the ground, nuzzling his nose against Papyrus’ nasal bone in an affectionate skeleton kiss.

Papyrus giggled, pressing his teeth against Gaster’s mouth quickly. Before Gaster could process what was happening, Papyrus was pulling away, gathering his skirts as he headed towards the door. “I have to go get my brother’s blessings!” Papyrus called happily as he entered back into the ballroom.

Gaster touched his lips with his finger, memorizing the way Papyrus felt against him. He shook his head in amusement; guess he better tell his adviser the good news.

It took a few minutes of searching, but Gaster finally found the human standing near a stairwell, a stern look on his face as he frowned at something in front of him. Gaster cleared his throat. “Is there a problem?”

His adviser blinked, looking over at him. “Oh, Gaster, what a surprise. Nothing’s wrong, it's just…there's this skeleton over there eating a bowl of mashed potatoes, but I can't for the life of me figure out where he got it from.”

Gaster followed his gaze, finding the familiar short skeleton from before, who was in fact spooning a large helping of mashed potatoes into his mouth. He smiled as he caught sight of the tailend of a familiar pink dress heading towards him.

“Nevermind that, I have more pressing issues to talk about. I found the monster that I am to marry.”

The human did a double take, gawking at Gaster like he grew three heads. “You, Doctor? You found someone you like? To marry??”

Gaster fought the compulsion to smack his forehead, instead clasping his hands behind him. “Yes yes, I know it's unfamiliar and unlike me, but I'm serious.”

“Well, then congrats are in order! Who is the lucky lady?”

“His name is Papyrus. Papyrus…” Gaster paused. “Now that I think about it, I don't think I received his last name.”

His adviser stared at Gaster, studying his face. Gaster looked back, tilting his head slightly. After a few moments, the human’s lips turned up slightly at the edges as his gaze softened. “Congrats, Doctor. I can see that you’re very serious about this person. In any case, I’m sure the investors will be very happy. I can’t wait to meet him.”

Gaster nodded once in understanding, turning back to the center and searching for Papyrus. He quickly found him, in the middle of scolding his brother, if Gaster had to guess. Papyrus suddenly whipped his head up, looking in his direction and waving happily when their eyes met. Gaster raised a hand in greeting, feeling warmth well up in his SOUL as he smiled as his beloved future spouse.

He wasn’t looking forward to gaining the approval of all the influential people around him, but he would fight an army if it meant he’d be able to marry Papyrus.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> feel free to bother me at my NSFW tumblr: [Sesurescue](http://Sesurescue.tumblr.com)


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